A Texas roofing company has been charged with fraud in asbestos removal during roofing work at a federal prison in Wisconsin, authorities reported.
U.S. Attorney Timothy O’Shea on Wednesday announced the filing of a criminal information and deferred prosecution agreement charging Brazos Urethane Inc. of Texas City, Texas, with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Brazos in 2014 gained a $4 million contracted with the Bureau of Prisons to replace roofs on buildings at the Oxford Federal Correctional Institution in Oxford. The project involved the abatement of asbestos containing materials that required the use of special removal and disposal procedures to guard against asbestos contamination, O’Shea said in a statement.
Brazos in the contract certified that it would maintain a safe work environment, follow all federal and state laws regarding the removal and disposal of hazardous waste materials, and obtain all necessary permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, O’Shea said.
Brazos in early 2015 dumped roofing waste materials from the Oxford worksite onto a property he purchased near the prison and the materials were found to contain asbestos by the DNR on Nov. 4, 2015, and by Environmental Protection Agency regulators on Dec. 16, 2021. Brazos concealed the illegal dumping from the BOP and DNR, then lied about its cleanup efforts once it was caught, O’Shea said.
In 2022, Brazos was ordered by the DNR to properly and completely clean up the roofing waste. The project cost Brazos $480,000, and took three weeks to accomplish, O’Shea said.
As part of the deferred prosecution agreement, Brazos agreed to immediately pay a fine of $300,000, which represents the amount of money the company attempted to save by engaging in the illegal dumping. Brazos also agreed to enter into a three-year corporate compliance program designed to prevent further violations of contract fraud and federal environmental laws. At the end of the program, the charge against Brazos will be dismissed, O’Shea said.
“Brazos dumping hazardous material on a residential property wasn’t just dangerous for the community, it was defrauding the United States government,” William J. Hannah, special agent in charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Midwest Region, said in a statement. “The public can rest assured that the asbestos has been properly removed and disposed of, and that Brazos is being held accountable for its actions.”
The case against Brazos came from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General. The prosecutor was Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Graber.
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